Mission Concepción’s double solar illumination will be...

1of3Father David Garcia, head of the Old Spanish Missions, speaks at the double solar illumination at Mission Concepción on Aug. 15, 2013.Photo: Courtesy photo /Las Misiones

2of3An exterior view of Mission Concepcion and the conically-shaped window (top) which beams sunlight in a unique path inside the church on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. The solar illumination is a yearly phenomenon and one that is seen as symbolic since the light crosses right in the middle of the cruciform church. Guests and parishioners attended the event and celebrated the solar illumination as well as had Mass for the Feast of the Assumption.Photo: Kin Man Hui, Staff / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

3of3Mission Concepcion docent George Dawson stands in the light emitted from a window inside the church on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. The solar illumination is a yearly phenomenon and one that is seen as symbolic since the light crosses right in the middle of the cruciform church. Guests and parishioners attended the event and celebrated the solar illumination as well as had Mass for the Feast of the Assumption.Photo: Kin Man Hui, Staff / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Those who have experienced the double solar illumination at Mission Concepción describe the moment as one of spiritual awe as evening light beams through a window and moves slowly over space and onto the face of Mary in a painting hanging behind the altar. At precisely the same time, another ray shines into the dome of the sanctuary and hits the floor at the exact center of the cross-shaped church.

The light will land there again Saturday, as it has for more than two centuries, on the feast day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

These sacred illuminations have occurred through the years, with or without witnesses. But as more people learn of them, more gather for them, said Father David Garcia, head of the Old Spanish Missions.

California State University scholar Rubén G. Mendoza says the occurrence is no coincidence. Throughout the Americas, mission churches were planned and constructed with “building codes” that relied on the church’s knowledge of astronomy and geometry. Getting the light to shine through at specific times was used to evangelize and convert the continent’s original inhabitants. It also handled a critical administrative task: staying on the liturgical calendar.

Essentially, the missions were astronomical clocks. Use of the sun and stars also tapped into native spirituality, which reveres the sun and moon, Mendoza said.

In a piece titled “The Liturgy of Light” in the Journal of the California Mission Studies Association, Mendoza describes how light was used to herald “revelations regarding the divine.” In this way, missions were “theaters of conversion.” The “theology of light,” he noted, was “in service of liturgical drama.”

At least 60 missions in the Americas have recorded illuminations, said Mendoza, an archaeologist who was consulted in San Antonio’s World Heritage Site nomination. Last month, the city’s five Spanish colonial missions, including the Alamo, won recognition from UNESCO for their cultural significance.

Mendoza credited retired San Antonio banker George Dawson, who served as a docent at the missions, for identifying the illuminations at Mission Concepción in the modern era.

“The friars, we can discern, saw them as beautiful,” said Mendoza, a Catholic. “It validated their own faith. For myself, every time I see these illuminations, I experience, literally, an awesome presence, a spiritual presence that can be overwhelming.”

Native Texans probably felt it, too, he said.

Mendoza, who is part Yaqui, said some might thus assume the indigenous were “docile” participants, but he doesn’t see it that way. “In fact, they were proactive agents of resistance, or proactive agents of accommodation and change,” he said.

He also credits the missionaries.

“Remember, these were descendants of people who had circumnavigated the globe, who explored, collected plants and documented languages. They weren’t fly-by-night. They were exceptionally trained,” Mendoza said. “And they believed they were doing God’s work.”

Mexican friars coordinated the building by natives of more than 100,000 structures, churches, chapels and convents, he said. “It’s the greatest episode of construction in human endeavor. It was a zealous enterprise.”

Some missions have been so damaged or altered that their illuminations are no more. That’s why it was important to note the significance of Mission Concepción’s illuminations in the nomination sent to UNESCO, said Susan Snow,archaeologist for the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and the local World Heritage coordinator.

“There are few churches left standing today where you can still witness this,” she said. Mission Concepción, built on a rock formation, never collapsed. “You can still see it as it was in the 1700s.”

The double solar illumination will be visible at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the mission, 807 Mission Road. Garcia will celebrate Mass afterward.

“It’s a moment for people to see something that is really quite moving, especially inside a church built over 250 years ago,” he said. “It still says something to us today.”

Elaine Ayala is a Metro columnist for the San Antonio Express-News. A newspaper journalist for almost 40 years, she has held a variety of journalism jobs, including news reporter, features editor, blogger and editorial page editor. She has worked for six metropolitan dailies — the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the Arizona Daily Star, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, the Austin American-Statesman, El Paso Times and the Express-News, where she has worked since 1996.

Her Metro column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on Page 2 of the Express-News. She covers San Antonio and Bexar County with special focus on communities of color, demographic change, Latino politics, migration, education and arts and culture.

The San Antonio native graduated from Memorial High School on the city’s West Side and the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English. She is also a graduate of the Maynard Institute’s Editing Program, in which she also taught.

She has been involved in several journalism organizations throughout her career, most focused on increasing the number of minorities and women in U.S. newsrooms and fundraising for scholarships for students pursuing careers in the news media

She’s past president of the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists (SAAHJ), the Austin Area Association of Hispanic Journalists and the El Paso Association of Hispanic Journalists. She has served on the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and has been a member of two other journalism groups, formerly known as the National Conference of Editorial Writers and American Association of Sunday and Features Editors.

Ayala is the recipient of several awards, including the Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism, awarded by SAAHJ; the Phillip True Award for Reporter of the Year, given by her peers at the Express-News; the inaugural Mission Heritage Award by the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions; the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Community Voice Award; a role-model award from the Martinez Street Women’s Center; the IMAGE of San Antonio Award given to women leaders and mentors; and the Governor’s Yellow Rose of Texas Award.

She has been inducted into the Edgewood Independent School District’s Hall of Fame, the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame and, most recently, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Hall of Fame.